


resting pulse

by Addison R (beyond_belief)



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Foursome Mostly Implied, Medical Procedures, Multi, Yuletide Treat, minor medical kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 20:15:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17148398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beyond_belief/pseuds/Addison%20R
Summary: ThreeFour adults in an exam room.





	resting pulse

**Author's Note:**

  * For [labocat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/labocat/gifts).
  * Inspired by [market price](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17131367) by [Addison R (beyond_belief)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/beyond_belief/pseuds/Addison%20R). 



"You're not nervous, are you?" Dan asks, once Eddie's seated on the exam table, with Venom holding the back of the paper gown closed against the cool air of the room. 

"There's not any cameras in here, right?"

"It's a hospital, Eddie," Anne replies patiently from where she's sitting in one of the chairs against the wall. 

Dan adds, "No cameras in exam rooms, don't worry, man. You feel okay? I just ask because you're already sweating a little."

_Dan is going to touch us,_ Venom says, and Eddie feels him slip around his spine, a thing he doesn't do often, and never in front of anyone else. 

"We're not nervous," Eddie says, more confident than he feels. This is probably a bad idea. He should put his pants back on and go home, lock the door, hide under the sheets. Then he and Venom can do that thing they do when they're alone sometimes, that thing where Eddie gets off harder than he has in forever ( _sorry, Annie_ ).

_I am sure Annie understands._

"All right, just going to use my stethoscope first, okay?" Dan says. He rubs it over his shirt first, presumably to warm it up. 

Eddie nods and closes his eyes. He feels the gentle press of the circle part against his chest, where his heart is. It's probably beating fast. Dan makes a quiet sound, then a murmured, "good, guys," and Eddie can feel Venom's thrill at being included. 

The stethoscope moves to his side, under his armpit. "Deep breaths," Dan says. Eddie takes three, then Dan switches to the opposite side. "Good. Okay, now your belly."

The circle part presses above his navel for three breaths, then below it for another three. Eddie tries not to shiver. 

_It feels nice, having Dan care for us,_ Venom says, the sound of him in Eddie's head as quiet as he's ever been. 

"It does," Eddie breathes in reply, and neither Anne nor Dan ask what he's responding to. 

In a conversational voice, Dan says, "You're still sweating, Eddie."

"I'm a sweaty man."

They both chuckle at that. "All right," Dan continues, "I'm going to check your lungs from the back now, okay?"

"Okay."

Dan moves in even closer for that, close enough that Eddie can feel his body heat. If Eddie were to open his eyes, he knows he'd see Anne watching, but not opening his eyes also feels like Anne might be able to see everything he's feeling written across his face. 

He keeps his eyes closed.

Dan makes a considering noise as he holds the stethoscope to Eddie's back, under each shoulder blade in turn. "I think I can hear the symbiote," he murmurs, his voice close to Eddie's ear.

"Really?"

_I could be louder._

"Yeah, there's a sort of a swishing noise," Dan says.

Another hand falls on Eddie's arm. Anne's. "Could I listen?" she asks, and Eddie feels Venom's pride at this. What a show-off.

Now both of them are very close. He feels the press of the stethoscope come again, and breathes. "Oh, wow," Anne sighs. Her hand flexes on Eddie's arm. "That's crazy."

"I'm sure he'd come out, if you asked nicely," Eddie says, opening his eyes. "He trusts you guys."

Dan puts the stethoscope aside and brandishes a small rubber hammer. "Reflexes first?"

"Sure."

Anne doesn't sit down again, instead stays standing next to Eddie. Dan bounces the hammer off his biceps and forearms first, one hand covering each of Eddie's wrists in turn, then does his knees and ankles. "Good, good."

_Why is Dan hitting us with that little hammer?_

"Uh, Venom wants to know the point of that," Eddie says.

"It's how we make sure your spinal cord and tendons are okay." Dan taps his knee again, and Eddie's leg jerks. "That's the normal human response. I wasn't sure if the symbiote would affect it. Does it hurt?"

"No. But he doesn't let me feel much pain."

"That's… both good and bad, I guess?" 

"Why would it be bad?" Anne asks, as Dan sets the hammer back on the counter. 

"Well, if Eddie was really hurt, how would he know?"

"I know," Eddie says. "I can feel it, when I get hurt. But then he dulls the pain, and fixes me. He healed my legs when they were broken."

"Really?" Dan asks, putting his hands on Eddie's shins. "Just - just like that?"

_I will always heal you, Eddie,_ Venom says. 

"I know, V," Eddie murmurs in reply. To Dan, he says, "It took a few seconds, I think I passed out from the shock of it. When I came to, he'd gotten us away from there. That was the first time I really saw him."

Anne squeezes his arm. "Could we see him now?"

Venom manifests from Eddie's upper back, and leans over his shoulder. "Hello, Annie. Hello, Dan."

"Hey, buddy," Dan says easily, and Eddie feels sort of proud of Dan, since he barely blinks at Venom's rows of teeth. 

"What are you doing to Eddie next?" Venom asks.

"Blood pressure."

Venom watches with interest as Dan slides the cuff onto Eddie's arm, and insists that Dan explain how it works. "But I would fix it," he says, "if something happened to Eddie that changed how his heart beat."

"There's no doctors where you come from?" Dan asks, removing the cuff and patting Eddie absently on the shoulder.

"No. If we are hurt badly enough that death approaches, there is no one to save us."

"That's sad," Anne murmurs. She lifts a hand and touches Venom gently, and he outright preens. 

"You're being a show-off, V," Eddie whispers. 

"Annie is our friend," Venom replies, and he licks Eddie's ear. 

"Ugh, man, really? While we're sitting here in a paper dress?"

Anne looks like she's trying very hard not to laugh, and Dan's not much better. Eddie adds, "I feel very outnumbered right now. What's next, Doc?"

"Well, I'd like to get you on a heart monitor for a few minutes, and maybe do an EEG after that, if that's cool with you guys?" 

"What is that?" Venom demands, so Dan explains, and Eddie's getting electrodes stuck to him before he even knows it, now with the stupid paper dress pooled around his midsection. Venom's still hovering over his shoulder, and Dan leans over his other shoulder to look at how the symbiote is manifesting. 

The heart monitor beeps a little faster, and Venom winds over to it, watching the line of their pulse. "I am fascinated," he rumbles after a moment. "It is keeping a record of our heart, Eddie."

"Yeah, V." 

"Your pulse is a little elevated, Eddie," Dan says. "You still nervous?"

"Well, I am mostly naked on this exam table, and everyone's standing very close to me, and uh, touching," Eddie mutters, and Venom winds back around to lean his face on Eddie's shoulder. "We haven't had much human contact in a while, if you get my drift?"

Anne's face falls at that. "Oh, Eddie. I'm sorry. I guess that must be -"

"Just a little difficult to meet people when V's always talking," Eddie interrupts.

"Eddie," Venom protests, winding tendrils lightly around his neck. 

Eddie breathes, "Ssh," as the monitor beeps faster again, then slows. 

"Huh," Dan says, then, "Okay, I think we can take these off - my apologies if it stings." 

He peels off the electrodes, his hands gentle, while Venom tries to help. Eddie has to snicker at that; Dan makes the most fascinated yet terrified face when Venom curls down over his hand. "I always think you'll be slimier," he says directly to the symbiote.

Eddie chuckles. "It's good he's not, I don't need goo all over my clothes."

Dan runs a hand up Venom's flowing form, around Eddie to his back, murmuring "May I?" at the same time but clearly not really looking for an answer. 

_Eddie._

"I know, V," Eddie whispers. Fingers curl through his and he looks down to see Anne holding his hand. "Annie?"

"Well, I thought it fair, since Dan's also touching you guys." Her cheeks are pink. Venom winds down Eddie's arm to spread over the back of Anne's hand. "This is definitely an interesting Saturday night."

"Can we do the EEG?" Dan asks, his hand on Eddie's shoulder.

"Sure. sure, why not? I've never had one before."

Dan produces another sheet of electrodes, and explains what he's doing - mostly for Venom's benefit, Eddie's sure - as he places them in rows down Eddie's scalp. It tingles a little. Then Dan clips a bunch of little wires to the electrodes, and plugs the master end of the bundle into a monitor in the corner. "So it is all… electricity?" Venom asks, swarming over Eddie's shoulder again.

"Yes. We still don't know entirely how the brain works, but the electrical waves are on this screen here, just like the heartbeats." Dan traces the moving line. Eddie feels a little bit like a lab rat. "Yours looks pretty normal so far, guys."

"That is good," Venom answers for them. Eddie squints at the screen. It just looks squiggly to him. 

"So, Venom, when you… reabsorb into Eddie's body, where do you, um, rest?"

"In the chest."

"I only ask because there seems to be more of you than there is space in Eddie," Dan adds.

"I'm sitting right here," Eddie grumbles, and Anne squeezes his hand. 

"I am also… everywhere," Venom says. 

Dan puts his hands on Eddie's ribs, palpitating gently. "Oh," Eddie breathes. 

"You still okay?" Anne asks him.

"Yes, I - we…" He lets the answer trail off, not sure what to say. 

Venom says it for him, much to Eddie's embarrassment. "We like it when you touch us. Both of you."

" _Oh_ ," Dan and Anne say in unison, and Eddie squeezes his eyes shut so he doesn't have to see anyone's expression. Dan's hands don't move. Eddie wonders what his brain waves are doing. Probably something crazy. Anne and Dan are probably also looking at each other like he's crazy. 

"Well, let's not stop now," Dan says, and resumes his mapping of Eddie's ribcage. 

Eddie nearly yelps in confusion, but whatever sound would have escaped him is lost to the gentle press of Anne's lips to his. It's nothing like how they used to kiss. Maybe she's just trying to keep him quiet. "Annie," he whispers, "why? You said -"

"I know what I said, and I meant it, and Dan's right here."

"Yeah, still right here," Dan confirms, his hands now resting on Eddie's waist. 

Eddie's sure he should be feeling dizzy over all this, but maybe Venom is keeping that feeling at bay. He is more than a little turned on, though. "Are my brain waves all fucked up?"

Dan looks at the screen. "No."

"Really?"

"Really, Eddie."

Anne is smothering a laugh behind her hand. "I think we should unhook you from the brain reader."

"I'm not sure my brain is really running the show anymore," Eddie says, and Anne laughs outright. "We're still at the hospital."

"Yes, yes we are." Dan pats his thigh. "I think I've got a good baseline, for future reference. If you need it, that sort of thing. Think you could get your pants on, Eddie?"

"No," Eddie replies, as sullenly as he's able, despite feeling anything but sullen.

Anne leans in and softly kisses what's mostly Venom's cheek. "I don't think Venom's ever been to the apartment."

"I have not," Venom rumbles. "Eddie does not take me to many peoples' houses."

"Well, you're welcome at ours. As long as you promise not to eat the cat."

"I don't think the cat would be as delicious as you hope, V," Eddie adds in encouragement. 

"Fine. I will not eat any cats tonight." With a wild ripple, he reabsorbs back into Eddie's body. _Are Anne and Dan going to do the same things with us that we do, in bed?_ he asks Eddie, thankfully not out loud.

"Maybe," Eddie whispers. 

Dan peels the electrodes carefully from Eddie's scalp, apologizing for the stickiness they leave behind, then finger-combs Eddie's hair back into place. It feels nice. He understands Venom's desire to preen. 

"You can use our shower later," Anne says casually, and drops Eddie's jeans onto the table next to him. "We'll be in the hall while you get dressed. And Dan, bring your stethoscope."

**Author's Note:**

> (Aah, I can't believe I got this done in time? I hope this is cool, labocat - your letter seemed like it would be ok?)


End file.
